Lost
by Starnova1122
Summary: Ezra Bridger. Rebel. Hero. Friend. But after a terrible tragedy befalls him and he disappears, everyone thinks that is the last they will see of him. But years later, Quinn is sent to find him, a simple enough task that quickly turns into a race against time to find the missing rebel. But what will happen, should she actually find him?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Star Wars Rebels, nor any characters, place names or content in this story. This story is a fan fiction and does not necessarily comply with the actual Star Wars timeline. Rated T for violence, very mild romance, and some content that may scare young children.**

" _Long ago, in a distant planet in the outer rim, known as Lothal, there lived a boy, and his friends._

 _These friends, we're more than just friends. They were family._

 _There was a Corellian, the last known Lasat, a female Mandalorian, and a Twi'lek. The boy himself was a Lothalian._

 _The boy and the Mandalorian, loved each other very much, and together with their other friends, shared many happy adventures together._

 _But all that was to change._

 _The boy was out on a supply run. If he had been there, he could have helped his friends. But he wasn't, and he returned to the base to see it enflamed, and his friends, nowhere to be found._

 _He searched for them everywhere. He tracked their kidnappers across three star systems to find his family. But alas, it was too late._

 _He followed them to Korriban, planet of tombs of Jedi and Sith, since time immortal. There, he found his friends, but was horrified at what he saw._

 _By the time he reached the cult that had captured his loved ones, they had already… Executed them._

 _It tore him apart, drove him mad. With just his bare hands, he killed every last cultist in the tomb, for being there, for killing his family, for killing the only ones he had ever loved._

 _And only then, his hands stained with blood, did he realise truly what had happened to them._

 _He mourned them. He missed them with all his heart. No one saw him again. He disappeared, vanished in his misery. Many went looking for him._

 _None found him."_

The old woman stopped speaking, and looked down, at the woman kneeling before her. She took a handful of powder from a dish next to her, and blew it into the girl's face.

At once she stirred. Groggily opening her eyes, apparently only just aware the woman had stopped speaking, she watched as the older woman clapped her hands once.

All the candles in the room burst into flame, illuminating the temple, and all it's strange markings on it. Illuminating the pillows, and incense burners, and the older woman's face as she spoke.

"My child. That is the story."

"Thank you, Sensei." The woman replied.

"You may leave."

"Thank you, Sensei."

The woman left the temple. She walked across the courtyard, savouring the sweet smells of the grass, and the many exotic flowers the Sensei had somehow gathered. She left the gate of the temple, and continued on through the forest. A speeder bike would have been quicker, but she hpreferred walking. It gave one a much more heightened sense of being alive. All the woodland creatures, who had once scuttled, frightened of any passers-by, now gathered around the trees and watched the woman walk. This was how it had always been, ever since the Empire had been defeated and the Republic reunited.

The woman was never sure of quite how far the temple was from her base, only that it was a long way away. She walked for what must have been hours, but felt like only minutes, to the woman, so deep in her own thoughts. When she did finally come in sight of her base, it was to be greeted by friendly shouts, and people waving to her from all sides, inviting her for a drink with them, to celebrate such a beautiful day.

And beautiful it was. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and there wasn't a cloud in the lovely Yavin 4 sky. One could hardly blame the soldiers for lounging about. But she had her own purpose. She entered the base, and took a turbolift up to her office. Once there, she directed the trooper out front.

"Bring Quinn to see me."

The soldier nodded, and left. He returned a few minutes later, with a girl with waist-length blonde hair, and beautiful brown eyes. The trooper left the room. The girl spoke.

"Hi mom. What's up?"

"I have a mission for you, Quinn." The older woman replied, addressing the teenage rebel.

"Oh boy. Where am I going now? I've already been to Sullust, Coruscant, anywhere!"

"I need you to find Ezra Bridger."

Even Quinn had to stop as this sunk in.

"Ezra Bridger? But, he disappeared! Ever since…"

The woman finished for her daughter.

"I know, but you need to find him. I think it's time for him to rejoin the fight against the First Order."

Half an hour later, Quinn, now prepped in her usual mission getup, left the temple. She carried a backpack, inside which were around two thousand credits, rations for one person to last six months, a few Thermal Detonators, a starmap, and a comlink. She boarded her starfighter, a newer model that looked a lot like a Snowspeeder. As she was about to leave, her comlink beeped. Her mother's face appeared on the computer panel.

"Alright Quinn," her mother said. "Contact us if you need anything, and be safe."

"Right mom. Quinn out."

And with that, the starfighter left the Yavin system, and on what would become the most terrible and challenging adventure Quinn would ever face.


	2. Dreams

Quinn sat back in her chair, thinking hard. On the way out this had seemed like a simple mission, and that she would be back in a week. Now, however, she was forced to conclude that she had no idea where to go. She had the whole galaxy in front of her, but for the first time in her life, she didn't know where to go. She watched the stars twinkling in the night sky, but no sudden brainwave came to her, no unexpected, jerking idea flashing into her mind. She sat there, in the seat, for what must have been hours, watching the stars shining, dancing across the sky…

" _Kill them."_

 _Quinn's voice was low, cold and sounded like it had been fed through gravel. The four people she addressed stepped forward, vibroblades in hand, standing beside the four figures that sat, forced into a kneeling position, on the floor of that cold stone temple. The Mandalorian was crying, writhing around in the ropes, calling for her loved one to save her._

 _"QUIET!" Roared Quinn, and the vibroblade came swishing downwards, there was a spray of blood, and the woman stopped screaming, and fell to the ground._

 _The others fell, each one to a spray of blood, and as the Corellians head was separated from his body, a loud cry ran out..._

 _"NOOOOOO!"_

Quinn jerked awake. She had fallen asleep, lying in her chair. She panted. What she he just seen had been more real than a nightmare. She knew what she had seen. She wished that she hadn't. It had been more horrible than she had imagined.

But the dream seemed to install in her a new sense of determination, and she had a brainwave. Ezra had lived most of his life on Lothal. She would start there. She entered new coordinates, and watched the stars turn to blinding streaks of light, as the familiar feeling of hyperspace took over.

This done, Quinn sat back in her chair. She didn't feel hungry, thirsty or tired. Just shocked. She had witnessed the death of Ezra's friends, the reason he disappeared. She wasn't sure what to think.

She fell asleep once again, but this time, her dreams were wavy, distorted. There was… A temple. She saw a temple, not unlike the one on Yavin 4. Then it dissolved into smoke, and reformed to form a man with grey hair and a short beard. He was sitting in a room, looking at some photographs… Photographs of a man, and a woman, with a small, blue-haired child, no older than a toddler… And now she was watching a fight, a fight between many grown men, around a table laden with food. One of the men looked a lot older than the rest. As she watched, one of the younger men pulled out a blaster pistol...

And then she was hurtling along through the streets of Lothal, running for somewhere she did not know… And then she saw a cantina, and the sign outside it, and two people sitting at a table, talking and laughing… And then one of them turned to look at her…

And then she awoke.


	3. Meetings in the bar

Quinn crept through the narrow backstreets and alleyways of Lothal. Although she had a pretty good idea what she was looking for, she wasn't sure, as she had gotten only the smallest of glimpses at the sign. She slipped around a corner, and found what she was looking for.

A grimy bar sat at the end of the street. The sign was rugged and, by the looks of it, vandalised more than once, and the door hung, half-on, half-off of its repulsors. The broken sign read,

'Old Jho's hangout.'

A smaller sign below it, which looked as if it had been stuck on recently, read:

'Drink free if you can get these kriffling drunks out of my bar after closing.'

Quinn smiled, and entered.

The place stunk of stale alcohol, dust, and general filth, and species here were so varied you would have to be on fire to get a second glance. The bar was manned by an old Ithorian, who looked from his expression that he wanted nothing more than to bring a pitcher down on everyone's head. But that tends to put a damper on business, so he resisted the urge. As Quinn sat down at the bar, he turned to her and said gruffly,

"Aren't you too young to be in a place like this?"

Quinn didn't answer, but just showed her New Republic Enforcement badge. The Ithorian stared at her for a second, and then slid a glass down the bar.

"What do you want?" He asked.

Quinn looked around, and answered,

"I'm looking for information. I need to find someone."

The Ithorian, who Quinn supposed was Old Jho, leaned over the bar.

"And who, are you looking for?"

"Ezra Bridger."

Quinn said it as quietly as she could, but even the whisper of the name brought every customer's head, and for a second, even Quinn faltered under the stares of everyone in the bar.

Old Jho leaned in closer, and pointed to a table in the corner. A man was sitting there, apparently alone, but still talking to thin air like it talked back.

Perhaps he was just crazy.

"He knows a little bit about everyone in the galaxy, for the right price."

Quinn thanked the old barkeep, stood, and walked carefully over to the man at the table. As she approached, she saw the man notice her. He seemed to whisper something out of the corner of his mouth to the space beside him, and motioned for Quinn to come closer.

She slipped into the empty chair opposite the man. She then noticed something even odder. There were two mugs on the bar, both half-empty, even though there was only one person there. Quinn noticed the man's eyes on her and realised he had been following her gaze. He glanced down at the glasses, and hastily cleared his throat.

"Ah, hello there, young lady." He reached out to shake hands. She just looked at him.

"Oh, of course, where are my manners?" Exclaimed the man. "Zann. Tyber Zann, at your service."

Quinn finally shook Tyber's hand, noticing as she did that his palm felt oddly sweaty and tense, as though he was hiding something.

"Now, if I may, what services do you require, exactly? I would have to guess a New Republic agent such as yourself wouldn't just happen upon this place by chance, and decide to sit with me exactly, on the very night that Ryloth would be celebrating its freedom? Or am I just that good with women?"

Quinn noticed, not for the first time, how much she hated this man. His tone was smooth and he seemed to praise himself very highly for someone stuck in possibly the lowest point on the planet. Then again, this was the man who had been talking to thin air just minutes before, so maybe he wasn't, _'all there',_ to say the least.

"No," she finally answered. "Actually, I need information on someone and you seemed the best person to go to."

The man sat back in his chair, hands behind his head.

"I don't know what you're talking about and I am offended you would ever think that I would-"

But whatever else he had been about to say was lost as Quinn pulled out a fat money pouch and dropped it on the table. He stared at it for a moment, and then, to Quinn's horror, drew a vibrosword.


	4. Talks

Quinn tensed, and covered her head in her hands instinctively as the vibroblade came swishing downwards…

And cut cleanly through the bag of credits.

Golden datachips scattered from the bag and covered the table. Tyber replaced the vibrosword.

"What is it you want from me?" His voice was no longer light and cheerful, but hard and uncompromising.

"I want to find… Ezra Bridger."

The effect was instantaneous. The minute the words were out of her lips, Tyber jumped to his feet.

"URAI!" He roared, and at once, Quinn felt a blade press against her neck.

" _Do not move, girl, or your blood will meet my blades_." Came a deep and rumbling voice, originating from the empty space to which Tyber had been talking to only minutes ago. Too late, Quinn remembered that Tyber was always with his companion, Urai Fen, the sole survivor of a long-extinct race.

"Please," pleaded Quinn. "I don't want trouble, I just want to know where Ezra is."

"Well you found it." Answered Tyber. "Urai, release her."

She felt the blade move from under her neck, and Quinn stared at Tyber, half of her wanting him to go on, the other half afraid of what she might find. Tyber chewed his tongue, and then burst into speech.

"Years ago, before the Empire fell, Ezra came to this cantina. Consumed by grief, he told me everything.

He told me of four Lords of Lothal. They had been ruling the planet before the Empire, and Ezra was close friends with all of them.

Their names were Lord Caspian, Lord Aron, Lord Rhoop, and Lord Kallan. Two of them lived with a bunch of other senators in exile on the Mandalore moon of Concordia. Lord Aron and Lord Rhoop, I think. Try them. Lord Aron returned to the moon a few months ago, and claimed to have information on Ezra's whereabouts."

Quinn gasped. Grabbing her bag, she dashed out of the cantina, without so much as a backwards glance at Tyber. Only one thought pounded in her head as she ran, feeling more important than blood or oxygen.

' _Gotta get there,'_ she thought. ' _Gotta get there fast, before anything happens to him.'_ The First Order was still in control of Mandalore, and if they had extended their reach to Concordia, Lord Aron and all the others were dead. She had seen them, the First Order never took prisoners.

Her starfighter, still parked where she had left it, had attracted a contingent of Jawas, who required several prods with her Vibrostaff before they cleared off completely.

Quinn sat in the cockpit as the fighter blasted into space. She pondered for a moment on where she had gone so far. She had not yet told her mother of the dreams, but decided that, considering the circumstances, there were more important things to say. Minutes later, her mother's kind, but sad face flashed up onto the screen.

"Quinn! I haven't heard from you in ages! How are you?"

"Well, the mission isn't going so well. I'm now chasing four Lords of Lothal, one of which had information on Ezra's location."

"Ooook… Look, just find Ezra and bring him back, okay? Please."

"Yeah, right… Mom, what was my father like?"

She had hit a nerve. The corners in her mother's mouth twitched. Her father was always a touchy subject, especially as Quinn had concerns that her mother had never loved him.

"Don't think about that, Quinn. Not when we're so close to finding Ezra."

That was always her response. _'Don't think about it.'_ Kind of hard not to.

Quinn's father had been killed fighting the Battle of Endor.


	5. The sniper

**_Concordia, moon of Mandalore._**

 ** _Midnight._**

 ** _Undisclosed location._**

The night was silent. There were no birds, or animals, even the trees were quiet. Then, all of a sudden, a black shadow appeared out from behind the trees. He was dressed in a jumpsuit so dark it made even the surrounding night look grey. He seemed to stand, silent, as if waiting for someone, for several minutes. Before something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

The leaves rustled. At once, a sniper rifle was in the man's hand. There was a flash of red light, the light ping of a silenced gun, and a Firefox yelped, and fell out of the bush, a smoking hole directly between his eyes.

"A little high-strung, are we?"

Another man stood behind him. His head was covered in a hood.

"Some people prefer to call it lightning-fast reflexes."

"Of course."

"What do you want from me?"

"Tyber talked. Be on the lookout for a girl, late teens, flying a P32-X. She's coming here. Eliminate her, and stop Rhoop from talking. They had their chance. Now all we can do is eliminate all ties to his past. They MUST NOT SURVIVE. You have your orders."

The man was gone without another word. As he disappeared through the trees, the second man slipped through the bushes until he came to a rocky outcrop of the side of the trees. The stones here provided good cover. A perfect place to not be seen, but still see.

A small camp sat in shadows, nestled in trees. As he watched, a small starfighter flew in overhead and landed in the camp. The man smiled. He had a rocket launcher. One small movement and the girl would never reach the planet. But if he waited, he could take out the Lord as well.

Quinn landed her fighter on the landing pad, and left her cockpit. She was greeted by a blonde man in a suit. She frowned. This wasn't who she was looking for.

"Aaah! Welcome to Concordia, Quinn! I am Lord Rhoop. I understand you called?" His voice was cheery, and he looked like a friendly guy. Quinn felt she could trust him.

"I thought I was meeting Lord Aron?" She asked.

At the mention of Aron's name, the man became suddenly shifty. His face dropped, and his eyes became sad and watery.

"You can't."

What? No, I need to." Stammered Quinn. "Tell him I'm with the New Republic. Tell him it's urgent, he has information that-"

"You CAN'T SPEAK TO HIM!"

Quinn stopped. The man looked close to crying. He met her eyes, and burst into speech.

"Two months ago, my brother returned from a trip offworld. He said he knew where Ezra was, and how to get him back. A feast was prepared. We summoned everyone in, to hear the news that Ezra would soon be back. And Argon talked. He gave information against the First Order, criminal gangs, everything. But before he could reveal Ezra's location, a fight broke out."

Quinn gasped. She had that strange feeling in her stomach. Like the one you get when you're in your backyard, chucking stones, and you get that sick feeling like the one you've just thrown is going to hit your neighbor. And it always does.

"Titus Mana was jealous of Lord Argon's fame. Just before he revealed the answer, he called him out. An argument started. The argument became a fight. Titus drew a blaster. It was smacked out of his hands, but in the struggle, a bolt was discharged. And when the smoke cleared… Argon… He lay, *sob* dead upon the floor."

Quinn gasped, as the man broke down in tears. She had seen that fight before. In her dream. And the cantina. She had seen that too. But the other man. She had to find him. He must be the other Lord. She had to find him. But before she could utter another word, a loud CRACK rang out.

A flash of red light.

Someone screamed.

Quinn felt herself being pushed behind a stack of boxes as two more crack's rang out, and someone else yelled, and she saw, as if in slow motion, the Lord Rhoop falling…

And then it was all over. As Quinn poked her head out from cover, she saw the spectacle unfolding.

Two men, a Rodian and a Human, lay dead upon the ground. The Rodian was slumped against a stack of ammo boxes, his rifle in hand. The rest of them stood, surrounding the Lord Rhoop. She slowly approached the man. As she approached, he noticed her, and beckoned.

Quinn knelt beside the man's head. She heard, in the distance, med officers, but knew that it was too late, as a blood-red wash began to seep through his tunic.

Lord Rhoop was dying.

Hit by the sniper, he fought to get his last words out, as his life drained from him. He grabbed Quinn's shirt, and pulled her closer, as he desperately tried to speak.

"Find… My brother, he… Ar… Kallan… Fordia… Fordia…" His breath was coming in fits and bursts now. His eyes bulged as he tried his hardest to get one last word out.

"Corania…" He finally uttered, before the hand holding Quinn twitched, and released her. His body shook one last time, before he let out one last, rattling breath, and slumped backwards. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, as the last of his blood left him.


	6. Luke Skywalker

"Corania," the officer explained, and as he did, a hologram of a planet flashed up on the screen. "A small, recently discovered planet, not ready to be integrated into today's technology. A mostly grassland environment, the population is split into several small towns, placed at certain locations around the planet."

Quinn nodded, listening to what the officer was saying.

"Excellent. And Rhoop also mentioned something else. Fordia?"

"Fordia… Fordia… Ah, Fordia. It's a small city, on the planet. It sits on a small plain, just separated from its neighbor, Daria, by a large forest. And… Oh… This is incredible!"

"What?" Exclaimed Quinn, afraid something had happened.

"Fordia and Daria are, respectively, the two are the last known locations of Ezra Bridger!"

Quinn gasped. If the Lords did indeed live there, and Ezra had been there as well, there was a strong chance he spoke with at least one of them, and they may even know where he went. She thanked the officer for his information, and turned off the comlink. She entered coordinates, and sat back to wait. The journey was supposed to take a full day, so she prepared to sleep it out. Her thoughts slipped into dreams, as sleep consumed her once more.

She was sitting in a stone tomb. The walls and floors were stained with blood, as were the bodies that lay there. No less than twenty of them, all wearing strange masks and covered in robes. There were no blaster marks or vibro slashes. In the very center of the room, four bodies lay arranged in a line, the blood gone from their chests. A lightsaber lay across the chest of a male Correllian. A boy sat, kneeled beside the head of the last in the line, a female Mandalorian, tears rolling down his face. As Quinn came closer, she saw their faces, frozen in the expressions from their deaths. The Mandalorians tears were still frozen on her face. As she watched, the boy turned towards her. He spoke.

"Please. Help me."

Quinn jerked awake. The dream had been even more vivid than the last one, where she had seen it from the eyes of a cultist. Now she was sure she had seen it from her own eyes. She had to talk to someone about these dreams. They were getting more and more unbearable. But only one person came to her mind, and for all the chance of that happening, she might as well hope that Ezra would appear suddenly in the cargo bay. But, after a long pause, she got to her feet, and hailed Coruscant. As she did, she was answered by a trooper.

"Who is this? This is a restricted channel for New Republic Law Enforcement. Identify yourself!"

Quinn flashed her badge at the guard. His face relaxed.

"Oh, it's you. What can we do for you?"

"I need to speak with… Luke Skywalker."

The man's face changed in an instant.

"I'm sorry. You can't. Master Skywalker is extremely busy and can't put it all on hold to speak with just anyone."

"What's going on here?"

Luke Skywalker's face appeared on the monitor. He wore his traditional black Jedi robes, his sandy hair flying in the wind.

"Quinn. You wanted to speak with me?"

The officer looked absolutely gobsmacked, but seemed to at least have a sense of decency, because he muttered something about perimeter guard and left them.

Quinn wondered whether Luke was going to speak first, but he just inclined his head, as if waiting. Quinn spoke.

"Master Skywalker, I'm sorry to bother you, but, I need your advice."

"I find that many people do. Very tiresome… Sorry, please continue."

"So, a while ago, I… Um… I fell asleep."

She realised how stupid it sounded from the minute she said it. Luke seemed to understand, however, and simply said,

"Quite understandable. Please continue."

"Well," explained Quinn. "I had a dream. Not just any dream, it… It was too vivid to be a dream. I saw… I saw the cult murdering Ezra's friends."

This time, she got a reaction. Luke started slightly, and raised his hand, as if to speak.

"When you saw this… Vision… Were you standing next to them, or looking down on the scene from above?"

"Neither, Master, I… I was a cultist. I saw it through his eyes. And just now, I had another one. Not from a cultists point of view, but from… My own. And then, Ezra spoke to me in this one. He said, _'please, help me.'_ Master will you please tell me what's going on?"

But Luke didn't seem to have even noticed this last request. He held up his hand to stop her, now looking thoroughly concerned.

"You were tested for midichlorians, I hope?" He finally asked.

"Yeah," replied Quinn. "Negative."

"Hmm," frowned the Jedi Master. He stroked his chin, deep in thought. "This is troubling news. These are indeed Force visions, and yet… To reveal themselves to a Non-Force user, it's… Unheard of. Something is going to happen, soon. Our agents on Lothal reported strange tremors in the air, as did those on Korriban. I have no doubt this is a result of your mission, and I too have felt… Something. The Force works in mysterious ways. Tell me, did you manage to catch the sniper who murdered Lord Rhoop?"

"No," replied Quinn. "He was more resourceful than we anticipated. One more dead, and he escaped unscathed. We couldn't unmask him either."

"A shame. Continue your search, Quinn, but be wary. Rhoop didn't die by accident. Someone powerful is working to stop you from finding Ezra, and whether it's business or personal, I don't yet know. Good luck."

The connection cut off. Quinn sat back in her chair. She had hoped that talking with Luke would clear her head, answer some of her questions, but it just made her more anxious, and gave her new questions to answer.

 _Who was working against her?_

 _Why?_

 _And how far will they go, to achieve their goals?_


	7. Realisations

Quinn landed on the planet the next day. She swooped low over small, grassy hills and large rocky cliffs, until she reached her coordinates. Two cities lay, nestled in a valley on either side of a large, dark forest. She headed for the southernmost one, and landed her starfighter on the landing stretch just outside of the city gates. As she disembarked, a man walked towards her, wearing sandy yellow robes, with matching hair. He spread his arms warmly at the sign of a visitor.

"Welcome!" He called, in a jolly voice. "Welcome to Fordia! I am Mark Rham, chief of the village. I trust you will enjoy your stay!"

"Greetings," Quinn replied, bowing slightly. "I came looking for someone. I believe he lives here."

The man put a gentle hand on Quinn's shoulder, and steered her into the city. As they walked, faces watched them happily. There were all manner of people here, all looking happy and jolly. Men of all species sat about, drinking and laughing with their friends. Women lounged about, hanging out washing and baking for their children, who ran through the houses, laughing and cheering. It seemed a very nice place to live.

"Here on Fordia, we renounce such terrible things as war and fighting. Here we can live in peace and happiness for evermore. Now, enough about that, why are you here? Need something?"

"Yes, actually," Quinn answered. "I need to find… Well, his name is either Kallan or Caspian. I don't know which."

As soon as the word 'Caspian' was out of her lips, the man's expression froze. His hand jumped instinctively towards his heart, and the smile on his face melted like wax. Without a word, he pointed to a house at the end of a street. Unlike the others next to it, which had been taken well cared of, this one looked as though no one had lived in it for several years. The garden was overgrown, and although it had obviously been gorgeous once, wild flowers of unmeasurable size swayed in the breeze. The house seemed worn to its foundations, and Quinn wondered why this man was pointing to somewhere that even a rat wouldn't want to live in. Without a word, she slowly approached the house.

The gate was rusted and nearly fell apart as Quinn opened it. The door was hanging off its hinges. Without a backwards glance, the teenaged rebel took a deep breath, and strode into the house.

It was a one roomed, small home, and seemed much better taken care of on the inside than the outside. The walls were covered in a beige and white wallpaper, in patterns Quinn recognised as Lothalian paintings. The floor was covered in a straw carpet, which spanned the whole of the room. And lying amid several candles, on a rug in the very back of the room, was…

Quinn recoiled slightly. A man lay, face down, on the rug. Dust had settled on his back and in his hair, and he looked as though he hadn't moved in years. His grey beard trailed the floor, and Quinn saw his chest rise and fall.

"Uh… Hello? Sir?"

No answer. Quinn spoke again, slightly louder this time.

"Are you Lord Caspian?"

Nothing.

"Can you hear me? I'm looking for Ezra Bridger."

This time, she got a reaction. As soon as the word 'Bridger' fell from her lips, the man leapt to his feet. His eyes were rolling in all directions, his hands curled into fists. He snarled like and animal, looking quite demented.

Quinn felt herself being picked up by the throat. The man's hands closed around her neck, and she felt herself being driven backwards by the demented stranger. Her back slammed into the wall, and as she looked into his eyes, she saw, in there, the ghost of insanity.

He had been driven mad.

But the split-second was all Quinn needed. With all the ferocity of a Mandalorian warrior, she held down her arm.

The tiny vibroblade slipped down through her sleeve.

Into her hand.

She gritted her teeth, and drove the buzzing blade home.

And the man stumbled backwards, blood splurting everywhere, spraying from the wound made by the vibroblade, now lodged firmly in his ribcage. And the man fell backwards, arms splayed, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. He crashed to the floor with an air of finality, gave one, shuddering breath, and lay still.

Quinn gave a deep breath. She stared down at the body for what seemed like hours, before finally realising where she was. Wrenching the vibroblade from her enemy's chest, she wiped it on his robes, and stowed it back under her sleeves. This done, Quinn supposed the one thing for it was to look around. This man may have some clue in his house as to where Ezra could be. It was only now, that she noticed the chest of drawers.

It stood at the very back of the room. Photos stood on stands on the top, photos that looked strangely familiar. She looked one last time at the body, and picked one of them up.

It was a family photo. A man with wavy blue hair stood beside a smaller, but equally kind-looking woman. She held a small toddler on her shoulder, who had tufts of his father's hair, and was waving fists at the camera.

Quinn felt the world spiral away. She clutched her head… the world was spinning… She heard the sound of shattering glass…

 _And then she was looking at an old man… an old man she had seen before… Staring at the photo… Of the boy and his parents… And then he looked sideways… At a letter, lying on a stand right next to the photo…_

Quinn gasped. She sat up. She had fallen over, lying on the floor next to the chest of drawers. The photo lay beside her, it's glass frame broken. She must have dropped it. As she stood up, replacing the photo on its stand, she noticed a letter, standing in exactly the same place it had been in the dream. It was still in the envelope, but the seal had been broken. She glanced around, and opened it.

 _Dear Caspian,_

 _I write to you with grave news. I write to tell you that I can't continue this anymore. I've lost too much to hope to return to a regular life. I am choosing to tell you, and you only, because you are the only one I can trust. You were always my favourite. You listened to me, stuck by me, understood me, and during my crisis, you helped me. But I can't turn my back on all that has happened. I loved them, they were like a family to me. But now, they are gone. I am leaving, to mourn them, live in my eternal guilt._

 _When you read this, I will already be gone. Please don't come looking for me. I wish some peace, where there can be none. I shall meditate, I shall miss them, and I shall never come back._

 _Do not tell the others where I have gone. I do not wish for them to interfere with me. Not again._

 _Take care of yourself._

 _Final regards,_

 _Ezra Bridger._


	8. The beginning of the end

So this was it. Finally, the truth. Finally, the reason Ezra was gone. Quinn held the letter in her hands like it was a piece of precious glasswork. She glanced over at the body of Lord Caspian. He had been driven mad, Quinn realised. Dwelling on the letter and the news it brought, for years on end. Quinn felt she should feel happy. But she didn't. It was like she had been hurtling towards this point for weeks, but had finally come to a stop, run out of road. She had reached a dead end. Ezra was gone, and all remaining clues as to where he had gone had been expended. There was nothing left for her.

Or was there?

Quinn jumped as though she had received an electric shock. There had been a fourth brother. Lord Kallan. And if Daria was the last known location of Ezra Bridger, there was a good chance she would find Kallan there.

Quinn jumped to her feet, slipped the letter back onto the stand, and dashed out of the door.

Going out, she nearly collided with Mark Rham. His face had lost some of the jollyness, but at least he smiled at the sight of her.

"Thank heavens! You were out for hours! I was just about to come looking for you! And why are you covered in blood?"

"Never mind that," puffed Quinn, quite fast. "What's the fastest way to Daria?"

A few minutes later, Quinn sat with the chief in a low-ceilinged house. He was pointing at a map.

"-has no landing pads, so you can't take your starfighter. The only way is by Tammbak."

"Tammbak?"

"Tammbak are our native beasts. Domesticated ones allow people to ride them. With one, you should reach Daria in a matter of days."

"Now, there are only two routes to Daria. They both run along the edge of the forest. We'd suggest the left path, as it is slightly shorter. Now-"

"Wait, wait, why not just cut right through the forest? It would be much quicker than going around it."

The atmosphere changed immediately. The man's face became a mask of horror, his eyes darting towards the door as if fixing the closest escape route. He took a deep breath.

"You must never go into the Dark Forest, young one. No… Too young… Too young to die…"

Quinn started at this strange change that had come over the man. She sat, silently, hoping he would continue. Finally, he stopped muttering to himself, and continued.

"None who go into the Dark Forest ever come out! There is said to be… A beast. An unslayable monster as old as the forest itself. The last thing heard by any who venture into its dark woods, is a rustling of bushes, and… A scream. And… And…"

He took a deep breath.

"Every day, at exactly midday, a tortured yell rises from the forest."

"What?" Prompted Quinn, not sure she had heard right.

"A scream, loud and terrible, it rises from the forest. The whole planet can hear it. It lasts exactly an hour, the same hour, every day. It is a sound never heard on this planet. It is the sound… Of torture."

Quinn left the town hours later, saddled on a creature that looked the cross between a Tauntaun and a Ronto. She carried her backpack, as the creature walked off along the paved road, took the left at the fork, and continued along, with the forest on its right and open flat plains ending in steep cliffs on the left. Quinn's head was so full to bursting with unanswered questions. Ezra must have sent the letter from Daria, if it announced the news of his disappearance. And if Kallan lived there too, he must know where he went. She felt that her journey was drawing to a close. The dreams never went further than the temple, and the old man with the pictures, well, she had seen that. There was only one clue left. And if a that turned up a blank, then…

She had failed. That was all there was too it. Never had she approached the end of an adventure in such low spirits. Because whatever happened, she couldn't see this story having a happy ending.


	9. Severed links

Daria was a small town, smaller than Fordia, but nevertheless more leeway on the violence. In fact, the town hosted the planets only jail, but very little were in it. When Quinn dismounted her Tammbak, her first thought was,

'How in the Force am I going to find Kallan in this?'

For although it was smaller, Daria held almost twice as many people as Fordia. Quinn weaved her way through the crowd, trying desperately to find her target. Little did she know she was being watched from afar.

Quinn pushed her way past a particularly large woman, but before she could go any further, she felt a heavy hand descend on her shoulder.

"Excuse me, little one, I can't help noticing you, and thought you might be looking for someone." A gruff voice sounded over her shoulder, causing Quinn to look around.

A man stood behind her, with blonde hair cut so short it was almost impossible to see, and a small beard growing.

"Yeah," Quinn said cautiously. "I'm looking for a man named Kallan."

The man's grip tightened on her shoulder immediately. Without a word, he half-steered, half-dragged the girl through the crowd, to a small and unkempt house. Without speaking, he opened the door, threw her in, and locked it behind him. He deposited Quinn in one of two chairs, that sat at opposite ends to a small table. They were the only features in the room. Quinn might have been in an interrogation. She watched as the man strode around, locking all the windows shut. When he had finished, he returned to the table, sat in the other chair, and glared at Quinn as though she was a HoloTv show he found offensive. Finally, he spoke.

"You're her daughter."

It was a statement, not a question. Quinn nodded slowly. He stared at her for several seconds.

"He always spoke very highly of her. And you are here for Ezra Bridger."

Quinn stayed silent, waiting, hoping. Finally, he talked.

"Ezra came to me in a flurry of grief, many, many years ago. He told me everything that had happened, and settled down here. Years passed, and we all thought he might just go back to a normal life.

But then it all changed. Ezra was attacked one night. While he was out out on a walk, some people attacked him. Now, Ezra had not lost his fight, over the years, and I waste no time in saying he could have taken on any number of enemies with both hands tied behind his back. But, something happened. They did something to him."

"Not physically," he added hastily, as Quinn had opened her mouth to speak. "Whatever happened that night, no one will ever know, but it destroyed him. He came back in a blind rage."

"It was terrible to witness. He was maddened with grief, screaming the names of his friends and how they died. But when I tried to calm him down he… Struck me unconscious."

Quinn gasped, and put a hand to her mouth. She could see the rest already, but now that he had started, Kallan didn't seem to want to stop.

"And when I woke up, in the morning, he was gone. He had left everything he owned. And on the table, a piece of paper, saying… 'I'm sorry.'"

Quinn gasped again. The man looked at her with the expression of one attending a funeral, or at the deathbed of anotheSeconds passed in agony. Until, finally, Kallan spoke again.

"And that was the last I ever saw of him. He disappeared. And no trace of him was ever found. And now, all my brothers are dead."

Quinn did not ask how he knew this. She only saw, as the grotesque images of the brothers deaths flashed before her eyes. Titus Mana pulling a blaster, Rhoop falling, blood flying from his chest, and Caspian, arms splayed, eyes rolling into the back of his head…

She was interrupted by the click of a blaster.

Kallan raised his right hand from under the table. In it, he held a small, but lethal blaster pistol.

"And now, our journeys together are at an end. Goodbye, Quinn."

Before she could scream, before she could say anything or do anything, the man raised the blaster and pointed it, not at the teenaged rebel, but placed it under his own chin.

There was a loud _BANG_.

A red light momentarily filled the small room, and the man's head shot backwards, lolling pathetically over the back of the chair, blood trickling down his throat.


	10. Pursued

Quinn was in shock. As she stared intently at the body, one thought went through her mind.

'I failed.'

For she had reached a dead end. All remaining links to Ezra had been cut. She had failed her mission. She sat there for several more seconds, before realising where she was. She got slowly to her feet, and walked to the door.

She had never failed a mission before. She always pulled through, somehow. But unless some sort of spectral mist or something showed her the way like in books, she really had no other choice. She would go back, back to the Resistance, and tell them she had failed. With one, sad sigh, she tugged on the door handle, out into the warm sun, which was completely devoid of spectral mist.

Her first thought was, 'where has everyone gone'? But she never got further than a first thought because at that moment, blaster fire rang out.

For standing in the courtyard were five people. They wore strange suits often associated with mercenaries, and carried blaster rifles. And as soon as Quinn appeared in the doorway, someone screamed,

 **"SMOKE 'EM!"**

Quinn dived out of the way as blaster bolts whizzed past her, so close she felt them rustle her hair as they passed overhead. Rolling into cover in the side of the doorframe, she extracted from her boot, a small and powerful blaster pistol. It was one of two weapons she carried, the other being her vibroblade, but if there was ever a time for a concealed blaster pistol, it was now. She leaned carefully around the door, and squeezed the trigger.

A blinding blue bolt of energy flew from the weapon, hitting one of the men square in the chest. He doubled over and fell to the ground, and as his partner ran to check him, Quinn sent another bolt his way, and he cartwheeled over in the air, hitting the ground with an air of finality.

With three to go, Quinn considered her options. Cowering in cover of a wooden house wasn't going to work for long, in fact, just as she thought this, a red bolt of light punched right through the walls of the house, almost hitting Quinn square in the face. She considered for a split second, and dive-rolled out of cover.

Throwing a flashbang grenade she kept in her pocket for emergencies, she watched as the enemies doubled up, hands over their faces as they tried and failed to clear their vision. Quinn leapt down the steps, pushed her way past two of the men, and continued to run, full-tilt, towards the gate. Blaster bolts whizzed over her head, some red, some green, and she knew that she was being pursued. She sent more blue bolts over her shoulder at random. She heard a soft thud and knew she had hit one, but there was no time to turn around and check. Reaching the gates, she skidded to the side, to where her Tammbak was tied up, just as a green pulsating bolt whizzed past the spot where her head had been a second ago.

Saddling her Tammbak, she leapt onto its back, but before she could order it to go, a blaster bolt whizzed so close to Quinn's leg it grazed the Tammbak's side. Immediately aware that it was under attack, the creature reared, and suddenly galloped off down the path, faster than any human leg. It ran and ran down the path, with the forest on its left and the flat plains on it's side. But as it sprinted, blaster bolts continued to fire above her head. But, suddenly, without any sort of warning, a tree branch, stretching over the path, came into view. Quinn, temporarily looking behind her, did not see the branch in time.

With a huge SMACK, Quinn was thrown off her Tammbak. Without missing a beat, the creature continued to gallop off down the path.

Quinn sat up gingerly. Behind her, she heard the sounds of running feet, and of blaster fire. However, when she turned to continue after her Tammbak, she heard voices down the path.

"Look! Her Tammbak!"

"Let it go, we don't have time to stop. We have to catch her."

"She's got nowhere to run! Stop worrying, Derringer, it'll be a piece of cake. We find the girl, shoot her, collect our paycheck, and go."

Flanked on both sides, Quinn had two options. The flat plains on her right she ruled out immediately. There was no cover there, all it would take was a decent sniper and she's a little dark spot in the meadow. And besides, even if she did reach the cliffs, there was no way she could scale them in time. That left only one option, and not one she found particularly inviting.

Quinn gritted her teeth. There was no other way. It was either that, or die at the hands of mercenaries.

She took a deep breath, and dived into the forest.


	11. Into the forest

Either because of the dense nature of the forest, or something more sinister, the noise of the pursuing mercenaries faded instantly as soon as Quinn entered the forest. She did not stop, however, but kept running, sprinting through the trees until she could go no further. There, she stopped, leaning against a tree. A stitch that felt like a sword slash ripped at her side. As she stood, panting, against the tree, a new emotion gripped her- _panic_. If the rumours were true, she had done possibly the most dangerous and foolhardy thing possible. Barely had she reached this conclusion, then she heard voices, and suddenly, the click of several blasters.

A dozen mercenaries blundered through the trees behind her. As they each in turn saw her, they all raised her blasters. Quinn backed as hard against the tree as she could. A survivor as she was, she couldn't see any way she was getting out of this one, and braced herself to die. But a solution did present itself.

As Quinn closed her eyes, ready to die, one of the men, on the far left, gave a small yell. He stared wildly down into the thick bushes at his feet.

"Something just touched my leg. I think… AIEEEE!"

For he suddenly gave a horrible yell, and did an almost-comical backflip, before crashing to the ground, hidden by the bushes but unmistakably dead.

One by one, the mercenaries dropped their gaze from Quinn, desperately trying to see whatever was attacking them.

"Oh my god. Guys, it's over here! ITS GOT M-EEEEEEE!"

A man on the left of the group, who had bent down to check his companion, was suddenly launched off his feet, and catapulted through the air, disappearing through the trees.

From then on, complete chaos reigned. The men sprinted around, or firing madly into the bushes. And everywhere Quinn looked, men were flipped off their feet, or blasted into the trees by that unknown enemy. Quinn watched in horror as the last man dropped his blaster, was flipped off his feet, and dragged into the bushes. He let out a scream of terror, trying to grasp anything that would save him. The bushes rustled one last time, and then he was gone.

Quinn stood, panting against the tree, when she heard the bushes. Whatever had attacked those troops, was also coming for her!

Before she knew quite what she was doing, before she remembered that she had a stitch and that she was in unknown territory, she was sprinting deeper into the forest. All thoughts of fear forgotten as she sprinted in what she hoped was the general direction towards the outside of the forest.

As she ran, she heard the bushes rustling behind her, and knew the creature was pursuing her. Every time she tried to veer left, she heard it on her left. And when she veered right, she heard it on her right. It was like the creature was trying to steer her somewhere. As soon as she reached this conclusion, a she saw something up ahead.

There was the ominous THUD of flesh hitting something solid. Gawarays scattered and flew away, as Quinn stumbled. Her vision obscured by trickles of blood. Her blood, running from her forehead and face as she stumbled, muttered,

" _Ohthatsatree."_ Stupidly, before her legs buckled and she fell face down onto the ground.

Her vision went black.


	12. Greetings and goodbyes

Quinn awoke, lying face down on the forest floor, her nostrils full of the smell of trees and grassy ground. She lay, quite still, trying to figure out where she was. She could feel leaves beneath her… Maybe she was in some sort of clearing. It then struck her that she was not dead. This was quite suspicious, as she could remember being chased by some sort of creature before being knocked out. Considering lying face down on the ground would have made her a very easy meal, Quinn could not quite figure out why she was still alive. She slowly opened her eyes, and sat up.

Little lights popped on and off in her brain as she stood up. The first thing she saw was an old tree, about a metre away from her, stained with blood. So she hadn't been moved. She turned around, and almost had a heart attack.

She was indeed standing on the edge of a clearing. The animal was nowhere to be seen, but standing in the very centre of the clearing, was a temple.

Quinn rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't having hallucinations. When she opened them, the temple was still there. She had seen it somewhere, before, she just couldn't think where.

Then she remembered. It had been in her dream. What a temple was doing out here, in the middle of nowhere, in monster-infested woods, she couldn't imagine. It would be the perfect place to hide, however. The beast would keep everyone away, and no one would think to come looking there…

Quinn jumped as though she had received an electric shock. She dashed around the temple, trying to find…

"Ah!"

The door opened at her touch. Quinn looked inside, very cautiously, and slipped in. She crept across the polished ground. It was exactly like the one belonging to the Wise Woman, back on Yavin 4. And sitting at the very back of the temple, surrounded by candles, sat an old man. His silver hair fell to the floor, but at certain places, was flecked with blue. And as Quinn walked slowly towards him, he turned, and spoke.

"It has been a long time, since I have seen anyone."

His face was kind, but sad, and he had the shrunken, pitiful look of someone who has lived through more than their fair share of pain and suffering. He stood up, and began to walk towards her.

"Who are… You? How did you get past the… Ahhh…"

His face flitted between confused and understanding. He closed his eyes, and opened them, apparently deep in thought.

"Mr… Sir? What was that... thing, outside?" Asked Quinn, after a long pause in which they just stared at each other.

"The Force, my dear. A concentration of the Force, designed to keep everyone away. I dare say it worked on your mercenary friends." He chuckled. Something about his words made Quinn shiver. And then he blinked. And as he opened his eyes once more, Quinn noticed, for the first time, their colour.

They were electric blue.

"Then… You are Ezra Bridger." She gasped.

He neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply stared at her, but she noticed he seemed to have become slightly more weak on his feet, and seemed to be having trouble standing. He simply said,

"Who are you? The Force let you through, and led you here, because it sensed something in you. Who are you?"

Quinn took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"I am Quinn Wren, sir."

This time, his reaction was absolute. He let out such a sharp gasp it sounded like a hiss, and grasped the front of Quinn's shirt, muttering.

"Wren? Wren… I knew a Wren once. But, no… She is dead… It is impossible… Who was your mother? WHO?"

Quinn took another breath before answering.

"Sabine. Sabine Wren. Her wounds were healed, they weren't fatal. But… There was nothing we could do for the others."

Ezra's eyes were now so wide they were in danger of carving out of his head. He took several rasping, deep breaths, and sank to the ground.

 _"All these years… I've mourned her… And she is alive… And… Still safe… I… Failed her. I… Have failed."_

His breaths were coming in fits and bursts now. He lay down on the floor of the temple, gasping and fumbling for something on his belt.

He unhooked a strange device, with a blaster nozzle on the grip and a smaller hole in the top.

His lightsaber.

With trembling hands, he passed the device to Quinn. His eyes bulged as he tried to speak.

 _"Take… This… Back, back, to… Your mother… Give it to her… I, have, failed YOU… Must… Please."_

"No," whispered Quinn, kneeling at his head. "No I have to take you back. Mo… Sabine wants you to come back.

But she knew deep down it was too late. His chest was slowly rising and falling, getting lower and lower each time. He grabbed her shoulder as he fought to get his last request out.

 _"Go… Back… And tell… Your mother… I love her."_

And with that, his chest stopped moving. He gave one last, shuddering breath, twitched in Quinn's hands, and fell backwards onto the floor. His head fell backwards, his electric blue eyes twinkling with all the light, that they could not see.


	13. Back home

Quinn sat in shock. She felt her hands go numb as she stared at the Lothalian boy she had seen in the photos. Then, she felt tears falling down her cheeks. As she cried, she felt a cold wind pass over her, chilling her to the bone.

Quinn stayed there for what seemed like only minutes, but when she exited the temple, it was nearly dark. She carried with her a body, wrapped in cloth. It ought to have been heavier than it was, but was light as a feather. As she walked, she heard no rustling of bushes, no noises from the forest. The creature, it seemed, had perished with its creator.

The next hour past in a blur. Quinn remembered just picking a way, and walking. It was like she was passenger, not driver, in her body as she walked out of the forest. And sure enough, when she reached the edge of the forest, she saw the city gates of Fordia. As she walked in, she felt eyes on her from all around. The chief stood by her fighter. His cheery expression slid right off of his face as he took in her bloodstained robes, tear-streaked face and bodybag.

Quinn stopped next to the chief.

"You should know, the forest is safe. There is nothing there that will hurt you."

She left, walking towards her starfighter. She dumped the body, carefully, in the back seat of the cockpit, and started her fighter.

 ** _Yavin 4._**

 ** _Midday._**

 ** _Madaria Temple, Resistance Base._**

Sabine paced up and down in her office. Her breath seemed to catch in her throat as she glanced at the photos on her chest of drawers. They were all old pictures of the times she had spent with Ezra, back before…"

She would not think about it. Thankfully, she was interrupted at that moment by a trooper holding a datapad.

"Sir, Quinn's back. Her fighter just entered the atmosphere.

Sabine felt her heart leap. Finally, after all those years, she would see him again…

As she exited the temple, she saw the fighter landed. But something was wrong. Quinn hopped out, and grabbed what was unmistakably a bodybag.

Sabine's eyes widened. It couldn't be… It just couldn't…

She sped up. She practically ran towards her daughter, to see her, to hear her say that it wasn't true, that Ezra wasn't…

But one look at Quinn's face said it all. She dropped the bodybag at her feet, and looked up into her mother's eyes.

"Quinn?"

Quinn closed her eyes, and wiped some of the tears off her face.

"Is that… Is he…"

Quinn nodded.

Sabine felt her heart break. Tears rolled down her face at a fast rate, but she made no effort to wipe them clean. She hugged her daughter, as Quinn cried into her shoulder, and Sabine into hers. And all around them, troopers stood up, or remained rigid in their seats. And then, in one fluid movement, they all swept their helmets off, and bowed their heads, as a tribute to the boy who lived through hardships, and didn't live to see the end of them.


	14. Epilogue

**_Corania._**

 ** _Approaching midnight._**

 ** _Dark Forest, Bridger Temple._**

The mass of men and women of all different species gathering in the forest all moved silently through the trees. The men led the way, followed by the women, most of which clutched handkerchiefs to their faces, crying silently. They all moved as one, through the dense mass of wood, to where the temple stood.

Still and silent, looking even more foreboding than it had before. Two people stood already in the clearing. A younger teen, crying silently into her mother's shoulder, who seemed to be holding back tears herself. After they had all gathered in a huge circle around the building, two people entered, carrying a body.

The wrappings had been removed, but Sabine would have preferred it if they had stayed on. The sight looked even more unbearable. One of the men gave a quick nod to Sabine. She returned it very slowly.

The men walked inside the building, carrying the body. They placed it very carefully on the hard wood floor, and walked back out, without so much as a backwards glance. They couldn't bear to look upon the body a second longer than they needed to. As they exited the small temple, they gave a nod to a man who stood at the wall of the temple, a flaming torch in hand.

Some of the villagers had joined them now. Quinn saw Mark Rham, and several of his village friends. The man with the torch looked at Sabine. She gave a small nod, and turned away, tears flowing freely down her face now.

The temple burst into flames. They licked the walls and slowly began to consume the building. Sabine finally managed to find her voice, but could only bring herself to say one thing.

"Goodbye Ezra."

But as she said this, a single teardrop fell from her eyes.

This tear did not fall to the ground and splash, but rather just hung there, suspended, just in front of the fire. Sabine stopped crying, and watched the drop. But as she watched, something else happened.

With a burst of light, the teardrop caught alight. Flames consumed the drop, but this time, they expanded, forming a giant fireball the size of a small man.

Women screamed and men drew their blasters. Sabine watched it, mesmerised. Something about it seemed curious, and before she knew exactly what she was doing, she touched the fireball.

There was a burst of fire, and Sabine was alight. The fire was not hot or burning her, but felt pleasantly warm. Quinn screamed loudly…

It was over as quickly as it had come. Sabine stood, panting, in the forest…

Sabine's eyes found the fireball, and she gasped in surprise.

It was no longer just a shapeless blob of fire, now, it seemed to be moulding, as though giant, invisible hands were squeezing it into shape. It seemed like a small figure of a Wookie…

No, too small and human-like to be a Wookie. Smaller than a man, it looked roughly the size of a small teen…

Sabine's heart beat faster and faster every minute, as she watched as the fireball suddenly seemed to open up…

There was a small opening in the middle of the fireball, and Sabine was watching as someone appeared in that opening…

It was like seeing him walking down a dark corridor. He seemed to be getting closer and closer every minute…

And then, all of a sudden, he toppled out of the fireball. No longer just fire, the boy fell out of the fire, which fizzled away at his touch…

And there he lay. Ezra Bridger. No longer an old man, but young and handsome, looking not a day older than he had been on that fateful day on Korriban. And as Sabine reached out a hand to touch him, she suddenly withdrew it, and let out a gasp of surprise…

For her hands no longer belonged to an adult. She looked down at her body. She was back in her old Mandalorian armour she had worn once…

She ran a hand through her hair. It was no longer long and grey, but short and dyed. She too, looked just like she had done so many years ago.

And as she admired herself, she saw something else that made her heart skip several beats.

Ezra Bridger stirred.

His hands opened, and closed, as his chest began to rise and fall. Then, all at once, his electric-blue eyes shot open, and he yelled out. He jumped to his feet, took several deep breaths, and then noticed Sabine for the first time…

Minutes passed in agony. Ezra stared at Sabine, who could only stare, open-mouthed, back. The crowd around them suddenly began to disperse. They knew the difference between a public moment and a private moment. But just as the last of the stragglers disappeared, the shock seemed to lift.

" **EZRA**!"

Sabine ran forward and flung herself into Ezra's arms. She was delighted to see she could touch him… That he wasn't just a hallucination… That he really was…

And Ezra seemed to come to himself at last as well. He hugged Sabine back.

How long the two stayed there was anyone's guess. Sabine being so happy to finally have Ezra back, all she could manage to say was,

"Your… HOW?"

But Ezra just grinned, and said,

"This is true love. You can't stop that, by death."

And hugged her again. And they both just stood there for ages, not knowing or caring that Quinn had disappeared from their side, and that she would reappear years later, this time, as Ezra's daughter.

Because this was how it was supposed to be. As a happy ending.

 **The End.**


End file.
